Characterization of Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Microbial Community in Pacific White Shrimp Ponds

Abstract

This research profiles the community compositions and dominant taxonomies of prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbes in 30 samples of the water from 5 different Pacific white shrimp ponds. The V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene and 18S rRNA gene were sequenced by high-throughput sequencing technology. Total of 1,387,317 16S rRNA and 1,612,056 18S rRNA gene fragments were selected for classification, including 3,841 prokaryotic Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) and 990 eukaryotic OTUs. It’s observed that all of the 16S rRNA sequences were affiliated with at least 47 bacteria divisions and 18S rRNA sequences were affiliated with 50 eukaryotic divisions, respectively. Among all 30 samples, the dominant prokaryotic and eukaryotic community at phylum level shared considerable similarity in composition but not in abundance. The dominant prokaryotic community included Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, Cyanobacteria, Planctomycetes, Verrucomicrobia, Bacteroidetes, Chlorobi, Chloroflexi, Firmicutes and Spirochaetes. Cercozoa, Chlororhyta, Arthropoda, Stramenopiles-unidentified, Fungi-unidentified, Prymnesiophyceae, Ciliophora, Mollusca, Choanomonada and Jakobida were the dominant compositions of the eukaryotic. Similarly, significant difference existed at the genus level among the 30 samples. Results of richness and diversity showed that prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbes possessed complex community compositions in 5 ponds. While in different periods and different ponds, the value of Chao, Ace, Shannon and Simpson index were not significantly different (P >0.05).